Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Is Our Democratic Republic At Risk From Forces Both Foreign and Within?...

We are moving this running post up to front page this evening where it will remain until January 3'rd 2017 when we will return to single posts, hopefully on a daily basis. There is much to do in getting the TRUTH out about Donald J Trump, a dishonest, totally self absorbed, and dangerous individual. He may be the president on January 20th but that does not mean thoughtful and concerned people shouldn't challenge Trump at every turn and fight his agenda whenever it runs contrary to their interests and those of their family. More to come.

BTW, be sure to read today's entry, 12/28/16, below. this is just one example AND, it is just the beginning.

You've probably noticed the brief posts of late. Posts with very short commentary by the weblolg administrator followed by an article that goes into the subject in much greater detail. This has been done purposefully following the rancorous 2016 election, and because its Christmas Time, soon to be a New Year. This posting format will continue until January 3rd 2017.

December 21, 2016

12/28/16 @ 7:10 PM - Just another way Donald Trump plans to screw folks, in this case it is the retired people. Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) wants to allow "balance billing", something strictly prohibited for Medicare patients. In short it will cause medical coats for seniors to sky rocket. Read the details in the linked article below.

Just another way El Donaldo and his posse of millionaires and billionaires are planning to "Make America Great Again".

12/27/16 @ 12:30 PM -If there was ever any doubt it has been erased. President elect Donald J. Trump, the man who criticized other in fact is biglyguilty of the same. Follow the linked articlefor details.

12/16/16 @ 10.30 AM - I've said since the beginning of Donald J. Trump's run for the presidency he was a threat to our civil liberties and our democratic republic. Apparently more folks are waking up to this reality. Unfortunately is may be to late. Follow the linked New York Timesarticle for more.

12/20/16 @ 9:45 AM - With the electoral college making Donald J. Trump's minority election to the United States presidency official we are now looking at the American rightwing solidifying its control over our lives.

From the following linked article it looks as though Trump will be receiving plenty of help, encouragement, and support from some far right European elements.

12/20/16 @ 12:30 PM - Big h/t goes out to Progressive Eruptions who posted the following linked article this morning. This is not what America wants. We fought a world war against it. Now we have American citizens supporting this horrific mentality. NOT IN AMERICA must be our battle cry! We must defeat this vile pox and strench on our national idenity.

One month, 8 days. That's how long it took after electing Trump for Neo-Nazis to feel confident enough to start openly targeting Jews in America. Not online like they've been doing for years, but in the real world. This dangerous escalation is just the beginning:

Complete article BELOW THE FOLD.12/21/16 @ 11:00 AM - It seems that president elect Donald J. Trump, the man who was going to drain the swamp has had a change of heart. Reports are that he is going to stop using the catch phrase that was a campaign staple. When you really think about it it makes perfect sense that he would stop using it. With our three branches of government now safely in the jaws of the alligators (reepublicans) we're sure he no longers feels the need to drain the swamp. Follow thelinked articlefor the full story.

12/22/16 @ 10:00 AM - The internet has always had its share of individuals as well as groups that regularly disseminate false information for the purpose of misleading people. America now has a president elect, Donald J. Trump who is using social media (Twitter) for that very purpose, misleading Americans aa well as the rest of the world.

The Washington Post has created a nifty tool designed to address one of the novel problems of our political era: a president-elect who persistently uses Twitter to spread lies. A web-browser extension for Chrome and Firefox, RealDonaldContext annotates some of Trump’s tweets with fact-checking from the Post. For instance, last month Trump tweeted, “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” Below that, if you use the extension, is a note saying, “This is incorrect or false,” with this explication: “Trump didn’t win in a landslide in any sense—but more importantly there is absolutely no evidence that there were a significant number of votes cast illegally, much less ‘millions’ of them.”

RealDonaldContext meets a genuine need, given the importance tweeting plays in Trump’s media strategy and the frequency with which he lies. Trump’s authoritarianism is manifest in his attempt to impose a false reality on the world, which will become all the more dangerous when he assumes power. Thus, fact-checking his tweets is not only essential journalism, but an act of resistance—a reminder that Trump can’t make a lie come true by fiat alone.

Yet fact-checking, while necessary, is also only a partial solution. Trump’s core supporters, and the Republican Party that has decided to appease them, have proven willing to swallow his lies wholesale; they are immune to fact-checkers. Moreover, the problem with Trump’s tweets isn’t just that they often contain falsehoods, but that they are deliberate provocations with the potential to cause real conflict.

To continue reading this important information follow the linked article below.

For all of his faults, perhaps the worst it being his equating the office of the president with that of an all-powerful monarch or dictator, I think that most of us can agree, particularly in the light of all that has happened in this century, that Nixon was a decent American. He served in the Navy. He hailed from California. He was a Quaker. He didn't seek office, the California Republican party sought him out. Dammit, he bought his wife a decent, republican cloth coat! He cared about every segment of American society. He cared about the environment and the future. He wanted peace in Viet Nam much more than LBJ ever did. As Vice President under Eisenhower, he met with civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Nixon may have abused the power of his office. He was surely corrupted by those that surrounded him. But even an old, anti-war hippie like myself cannot impugn the character of Nixon, the man.

As unfortunate as Nixon's paranoia and secretive side was I believe Nixon really had America's best interests in mind first and foremost. He was basically a good American that made mistakes. IMO the Same cannot be said of Trump now or most likely in the future.

Today, the Menace-Elect is claiming secret knowledge concerning cyber warfare (knowledge so secret, not even the CIA knows about it). For those old enough to remember, beware politicians touting secret plans and secret knowledge. Like Richard Nixon's secret plan to end the war in Vietnam. The plan was so secret, the war dragged for years, and there were more combat casualties under the Nixon regime than his predecessor. The word "secret" is the oldest scam in the GOP Book of Demagoguery.

John Bolton is calling the CIA report of Russian hacking a false flag masterminded by President Obama:

“But I believe that intelligence has been politicized in the Obama administration to a very significant degree,” said one of the men instrumental in selling the invasion of Iraq to the world in 2003.

So Bolton would have us think that President Obama, who has had no major scandal, personal or political, in his eight years as president, would leave office in a blaze of infamy in order to have Hillary succeed him? Of course Bolton's supposition is insane and belongs to the Alex Jones School of Batshyte Crazy Conspiracy Theories.

December 14 will mark the anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre of the innocents, an event which the extremists on the right, like John Bolton, also claimed was a false flag instigated by President Obama.

John Bolton should not be anywhere near public administration. He should be backin the Walrus exhibit at the Saginaw Zoo. GOP likes to slam the CIA (who doesn't).We still recall Darth Cheney sending the CIA briefing team back to rework theirfindings that there were no WMDs in Iraq. Trump? he knows so much more than theentire US intelligence system that he has no need to attend the daily briefings.Our country is badly divided between the citizens and the alt-reality people.Extremely worrisome. We live in interesting times.

Aside from his policies, why would he go out in public looking like such a buffoon? Shave it off!

"GOP likes to slam the CIA (who doesn't)."

Looking at history, the over reach of the intrusive state has gotten much worse under each President, of both parties. Other than under Jimmy Carter, oddly enough (one of the things I admire the man for)

What is happening in my opinion is that as the right consolidates its presence and power, both at the state and federal level, we are seeing first hand what the saying power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely means.

As you no doubt are aware Shaw I've read most of what Rand wrote. Leaving Russia after the Bolshevik revolution and having seen first hand what complete and total tyranny looks like she wrote about this in her fiction and non fiction writings. I suspect Rand would be railing against Trump and the Trump/Putin bromance.

That aside, foreign invasion of, influence on, or tampering with our electoral process and election by any nation poses a threat to our democratic republic.

The Trump/Tillerson/Putin connection is FAR more dangerous than any perceived threat the right has hung on to for the eight years that President Obama has served the nation with dignity and honor.

Are you folks really serious? President Elect Trump has nominated some of the smartest people in our country to fill his cabinet. Of course they aren't of the liberal bent so you try to denigrate them, but perhaps a really successful businessman or a successful general may very well be capable of fixing our lack of any foreign policy and stimulate a stagnate economy.

You can only poke a sleeping bear so many times before he will turn on you and eat you --- the Democratics haven't learned that yet -- but if they try and interfere with President Donald Trump they may be rudely awakened.

I find it amazing that the republican party, the one who once stood for principles and equality of opportunity at one time, has become the party of the wealthy few and powerful Wall Street executives amd hedge fund managers. A party with few core ethical standatrds and one that is willing to sacrifice true for the sake of ideological extremism and police state security.

Gallup Poll 12-12-16"President Obama on Monday hit a 59 percent approval rating in Gallup's daily tracking poll—territory he hasn't seen since July 2009. The president's approval rating dwarfs that of Donald Trump, who is still under water according to a PPP survey released Friday. It showed just 43 percent view Trump favorably"..wonder where all the Trump voters came from?

Exxon president recommended and endorsed by Condi Rice and Bob Gates: who are on the Exxon pay role as highpaid consultants. If Hillary was murky, the new outfit is downright slimy. As I calculate, they had 35 years of constant propagandas going on her almost daily. Hooray for the Trumpsters, they are far easier targets and they have just begun.

From what I've heard Exxon has a BIG deal with Russia that is being held up because we have sanctions on them (Russia). Now with an Exxon executive in the cabinet, the sanctions will no doubt be lifted and the deal will proceed. The merger of State and business interests... the definition of fascism.

I think many of the Deplorables see Trump's picks as successful businessmen and generals. What they don't realize is that the government is not a business and should not be run like one, and that the military should not be run by people whose job is to fight wars.

In general I agree Jerry. However, the debt to revenue ratio or percentage does concrn me. As long as the ratio/percentage is sustainable and manageable I'm fine. Unfortunately I do not believe we have managed this all that well. I don't have the answer, but I do know at some point it will have to be addressed. Hoefully sooner rather than later.

Having said the above, I do not believe for a second the Trump administratin has any plkans to adress this issue. Regardless of what they might say. We'll soon know though, won't we Jerry?

I'm sure they have no plans to address the debt to revenue issue. In fact, if Trump follows previous republican administrations, the deficit, and hence the debt, will explode. Such a direction is in keeping with his business philosophy also in that his businesses are loaded with debt and he uses bankruptcy as a business decision regardless of the impact on others.

On this issue I totally subscribe to your views. It will not surprise me at all if Trump balloons deficits and exploded the national debt beyond its present stratospheric level. When that happens his solution may very well be to default on the national telling our creditor countries to go screw themselves and throwing the world's economic into a mass meltdown.

What makes Trump dangerous is he really doesn't care. Perhaps that will change. Then again it has been said that a leopard can't change its spots. I find the latter more likely.

FreeThinke December 14, 2016 at 11:56 AM, found on WYD's weblog. Posted in response to TOM's and Octopussy's pointless comments.

... Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

This is you old buddy TOM. Not to be confused with the TOM above, or the TOM that posts at Daddys. Of course to you and Dervish we are all the same, just Luke. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Thanks for proving what idiots you are. Keep blaming Luke! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Check out those TOM ID#'s. HA HA HA HA HA HA Now get back to blaming Luke!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Luke claims Dervish says he is 5 other guys, and Dervish denied that many times. Except of course for Dervish's comment above. Thanks for proving again you crumbs are liars. It's obvious to anyone, except the mentally disturbed, that all these TOM's are NOT the same person. I read Dervish's comment on the Swash Zone, he certainly did say Trump is the anti-Christ and he just confirmed it here. The only question is how long idiots are going to believe Dervish? Especially the self proclaimed genius (in his own mind) RN. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

IDs are not "guys". How stupid are you? Of course the #s are different. They are different accounts. One person can have multiple accounts. I have NEVER said "Google doesn't allow that". That's what you seem to be claiming. But you are wrong. Moronically wrong.

Trump said. "I've already said, he[Putin] is really very much of a leader. I mean, you can say, 'Oh, isn't that a terrible thing — the man has very strong control over a country.'

"Now, it's a very different system, and I don't happen to like the system. But certainly, in that system, he's been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader."

Note this part: "I mean, you can say, 'Oh, isn't that a terrible thing — the man has very strong control over a country.'

" Part of the reason that Putin is so popular is precisely that: He has strong control over his country. That control takes many forms, one of which is that he has zero tolerance for dissenting media opinions."

Donald Trump, a president-elect who admires an ex-Communist head of the KGB who murders dissenting journalists. Imagine the explosions of head in the alt-right blogsphere if that were Barack Obama!

Shaw quoted Trump (at least I think she did!): "Part of the reason that Putin is so popular is precisely that: He has strong control over his country. That control takes many forms, one of which is that he has zero tolerance for dissenting media opinions."

The very idea of such leadership is rather contrary to the idea of our citizen-driven Republic.

It rolls away thousands of years of human progress... stripping away all civilization and advances, to the old idea that the strongest caveman with the biggest club rules.

I found out that such a statement where Obama spoke to Putin never occured.Even Fox News reports this one correctly. Unlike TOMpussy. But cnsnews, a great source of fake news, reported the same false "headline" as TOMpussy.

Yeah right, OBAMA will have a Hell of a legacy, mindless and the stupid Progressives, like we see here on this Jerkoffs blog think that he's done a great job, wait a minute, you're the one is probably on food stamps and welfare and Obama phones

Well octopussydumba*s, when you are unable to post credible sources backing up your assertions with substantiated evidence simply engage in the rethuglican modus operandi, right? Attack the knowledable individuals or groups personally, always without so much as a smidgeon of truth to the attack, and repeat your lies as often as necessary until the dimwitted start to believe it.

Your audience at WYD and other alt-right weblogs lap your baseless ramblings up for sure. Not here or at other rational weblogs.

I'm certain Mr. Obama's legacy will NOT include having to pay $25 million in a case where he was accused of cheating young and old out of their hard earned money for a fraudulent "university." I'm certain Mr. Obama's legacy will NOT include have 75+ other law suits against him. I'm certain when Mr. Obama's legacy is written, it will NOT include his bragging about having adulterous affairs with other men's wives, and NOT include his bragging about sexually assaulting women, mocking disabled journalists, wanting to register certain religions, and a host of other horrors we've witnessed with the guy who won an electoral votes, not popular votes, with the help of a foreign government hostile to America.

The Goopers chose one of the most corrupt and mendacious men ever to be poised to lead the USA.

It is amazing how many supposedly intelligent people with ethical grounding have zero problem overlooking the massive character flaws of Don the Con while they extol his alleged virtues. We do live in very strange and irrational times.

The best we can hope for is... 1st, that Trump performs differently than all indications thus far would have us believe he will and 2'nd, that failing the first he doesn't do too much damage and is voted out of office in a massive popular and electoral college landslide in 2020.

Not only does Trump admire the Russian thug, Putin, he has admiration for the Philippines' president who is practicing extra-judicial killings:

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte promised to kill 100,000 criminals within his first six months in office and said there would be so many corpses in Manila Bay that the “fish will grow fat.” Turns out the controversial leader may have some firsthand experience: On Monday, Duterte claimed that he’d personally killed criminal suspects during his time as mayor of his home city of Davao. "In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys [police] that if I can do it why can't you?” he said while speaking to business leaders at the presidential palace. "I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also. I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill.”

Here's President-elect Trump in his TIME Magazine interview on the subject:A reporter mentions that what Trump is saying echoes the rhetoric of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has overseen the extrajudicial killing of thousands of alleged drug dealers and users in recent months. The President-elect offers no objection to the comparison. “Well, hey, look, this is bad stuff,” he says. “They slice them up, they carve their initials in the girl’s forehead, O.K. What are we supposed to do? Be nice about it?”

Days later, Trump will have a phone call with the Philippine President, who called President Obama the “son of a whore” a few months ago. A readout from the Philippine government subsequently announces that during the call, Trump praised Duterte’s deadly drug crackdown as “the right way.”

Trump used to pantomime summary executions on the campaign trail complaining that back in the day "when we were strong" we didn't have to bother with trials and the like. He wanted to bring back those good times. Trump also "loves" torture and has repeatedly hinted that he could endorse beheading for ISIS terrorists."

I take Trump at face value. He adores men like Putin and Duterte -- authoritarian thugs who kill their own citizens with impunity.

What's not to adore? A man-child who got five draft deferments, paid no taxes on his billions and bragged about it, inherited a fortune, went bankrupt five times, flagrantly used eminent domain forprivate gain, abused more women than Bills Cosby and Clinton, choses destructors rather than builders for his associates, plays footsy with Russia to the extent of hacking the election, considers himself God's gift to society, bullied the free press into trying to play fair and ignore all of the above, promised to jail his opponent, escalated the concept of fooling the 99% andwas the glamorous star of The Apprentice. Can we resist joining the Alt-reality 46% and sing inpraise, "Oh Come Let Us Adore Him, Trump The Pres"?

Frankly BB Idaho, I've completely given up trying to understand the 46% who were, still are, and probably always will think Trump is God's gift our republic. Those who hear and accept only what they want to hear, regardless of the falsehoods and dangers deserve what they get. In this case it unfortunately and negatively affects us all.

As I've looked at this election, I have to admit, my evangelical brothers support for Trump has bothered me. I do know that many just did not feel they could support HRC, and I get that. I was not a fan of her myself and in fact, did not vote for her or Trump. But others felt it was their civic duty to choose one or the other.

Here's how Sarah Pulliam Bailey covered it in the WAPO... "Rural evangelicals gave Trump a pass on the character flaws, [Anthony] Bradley [of Kings College in New York] said, because in their minds such flaws were less important than such issues in their communities as jobs, stable families, education options and terrorism."

I've spoken to many within that 46% Les who while voting for him, sure don't think he is all that. They see him as many Dems saw HRC, as deeply flawed, but he asked for their votes and she did not.

Is it beyond imagination to wonder if HRC could have gained the 100K votes needed in a few key states with at least some evangelical outreach and a rally or 2 supporting coal miners and factory workers in PA, MI and WI?

I get everything you said Dave, I really do. Deciding to vote for HRC was a tough decision for me, one I spent a lot of time making. However, all indications early on pointed to a seriously flawed Trump, ethically and morally. How otherwise good Christian people could, IMV, hypocritically overlook his narcissism, misogyny, white nationalism, bigotry, and general nastiness escapes me.

As you say Dave, Clinton and her campaign miscalculated the shallowness of support in key areas and it cost her. But, principals do matter. How a large share of the 46% decided to vacate principals and vote for a xenophobic narcissist and Putin admirer is simply beyond my ability to comprehend.

As I looked back at this election, I have to admit that the people who supported Donald Trump really bothered me. I do know that many just did not feel they could support Hillary Clinton because of her crooked past, and I get that. I was not Crazy about her myself and in fact, did not vote for her, I voted for Jill. But others felt it was their duty to choose one or the other. Front Runners, I did not. But if I had to pick one of them , I would have voted for Trump,

Unlike Trump (and far too many Republicans), Obama respects the integrity of our institutions and democratic traditions. Trump is the virtual "anti-Christ" of those values. Nothing less than a Trump impeachment and prosecution would satisfy me.

Trump's very first tweet upon winning:" Such a beautiful and important evening! The forgotten man and woman will never be forgotten again. We will all come together as never before." Coming together...but in two distinct diametrically opposed angry entities...as never before.

Your comment TOM/Steve/Luke, the trio of one in the same. was deleted because Dervish is not the subject of this nor are your imaginary emails you talk about. Further, dmarks is correct, you are attempting to turn this thread into a s*itbowl. Not gonna happen. So, go back to WYD where the cesspool runs deep from the low info low intel crowd.

Now the "real Luke" is talking about me? He might be a T/S/L sock puppet too. That would make 3 Lukes and 4 TOMs. All accounts likely controlled by the same troll. And Luke told me on WYD that he has a "Luke Smith" G+ account. If so that would make 4 of each. Or as Luke would say, that would mean he's 8 guys. Although I've never seen a Luke Smith comment. I did a search on G+ but gave up trying to guess which one might be him when I found there are more than 200 Luke Smith's.

What this highlights really is there are kooks, misfits, mentally and emotionally unstable people, and totally crazy individuals out there. And, they seem to love the anonymity the internet provides them. Slime all. TOM/Steve/Luke and now The Real Luke are simply a symptom of the problem.

There have always been "kooks, misfits, mentally and emotionally unstable people, and totally crazy individuals out there". Thanks the the internet and social media boosted by profit-driven media, they now have a voice. The fact that people are now listening to them just highlights the importance of improving and expanding our educational systems.

We all should be high information voters, not low information voters, conservatives and liberals alike!

I wonder if this might be staged/plotted by Turkey/Russia. Because the result of this might be to help erase the tensions between Putin and Erdogan and get them on the page for completely eliminating democratic (non-terrorist) dissent in that part of the world.

Erdogan is Trump's kind of man, really. Except for the "Muslim" thing. I would not be surprised if the Trump administration ends up supporting Erdogan's efforts to eliminate dissent, at least verbally.

You seem to totally support the last eight years of no growth because you elected someone who hadn't even run a lemonade stand and was the beneficiary of corrupt Chicago politics and skin color. Yea I know, if you are against BHO you are a racist. How about if you are against yellow hair you are a bigot. Now you feel a non politician who has had many accomplishments, some good some bad doesn't deserve a chance.If he performs for all Americans and your life is better, are you going to admit it was a good move or are you going to do some bridge jumping? Without any proof how do you know Russia didn't help -H-. We don't. It was BHO who told Russia to just wait until after the election when he will have more latitude to deal with the, damn open mike. Wasn't it BHO who told Romney Russia was not a threat to anyone, course he said the same thing about ISIS.

Whether Obama gets blame or credit, the Stock Market rose during the last eight years from 6700 toalmost 20,000, inflation was minimal, US oil production was significantly up, and gasoline prices lower, we started no wars, etc. However much Trump is distrusted, based on a number of his attributes, if he can bring back jobs to the US; rebuild the middle class, raise the standard of living...I for one will admit it was a good move. Right now count me skeptical.

I enjoyed your rant skuddy ole man. When you become a serious individual, with serious supportable data, have a real interest in intelligent discourse please let us know. When that time arrives, if it ever does, I'm sure the local as well as distant communities will engage with you.

First the Left released the names, addresses, cell numbers and email addresses for electors who then received a deluge of demanding, even threatening communications along with people sending copies of the Federalist Papers. If they had only read the book they might have learned about the wisdom of the Founding Fathers but since they usually consider them racist, women haters I suppose they couldn't bring themselves to actually read it.

When the threats didn't work, and all their other stupid claims and other nonsense, didn't work, they blamed the Russians, and then the Rich Old White Guys, they showed up on the day the Electors cast their ballots in the Electoral College and screamed and yelled at any result of which they did not personally approve. The example below is an extreme case but not the only one. Did the feminist fanatic below REALLY think that the Electors would overturn the will of the people in these states? Is she that deranged?

Back from the dead, TOM? Your Stay A While (self-described) co-authortold me you were dead. From the "brain cancer" you supposedly had. Apparently instead of killing you, the "brain cancer" just changed you from a Liberal into a deranged Rightwinger.

Hillary and the morons, communists, progressives, socialists and all the other idiots like those who post here got their asses kicked twice, and that was priceless. Only time will tell if and when these brain-dead Zombies we wise up and re-educate thier poisoned minds soThat this Country can once again be united!

"TOM" leaves something in my comment moderation almost every day. I never read his crap. I see his name and hit the "delete" button. Imagine how desperate for attention this sad little man must be. He goes around to all the uncrazy blogs hoping someone will read his pathetic comments. What a loser.

Tom unfortunately is a poster boy for the Trumpsters. Rather than voter ID, there should bea voter IQ. Bookies are taking odds already on whether trump resigns or is impeached beforehis term is up. Tom could lose a fortune.

Wrong. That's your delusion, troll. The world is full of a-holes. That's just a fact and not a reason to get pissed off "tremendously". BTW, Luke denies he was for Trump. Even though he said "I'm rooting for Trump" on his blog. And that his TOM sockpuppets are so giddy in regards to the coming Trump-pocalypse is further proof that he is (and was when he blogged on Stay A While) a fake Liberal.

I am starting to consider our nation shall never again be what it once was. Oh I know it has had its share of problems, including false and yellow journalism but never has it been so profoundly and willingly ill informed.

It seems the more outrageous the claim the more likely it is to be believed by folks who should know better. Unfortunately the nation now has many elected officials and politicians who choose to pour fuel on the flames of misinformation (mostly conservatives and republicans) rather than speaking the truth to their constituency. of course this is because their primary motivation is self enrichment and power. Read as power over you, something they all relish. Including the preesisent elect, Don the Con Trump.

May the gods of Mt. Olympus show mercy. Cause we are going to need it.

RE: "..the American rightwing solidifying its control over our lives." I recently read a blog comment elsewhere by a woman in North Carolina, worried about how the GOP there is dismantling the previous administration. My reply-

"That is worse than sad, Xxxxy. We need only look at ScottWalker's war on higher education in Wisconsin.Consider that Guv Walker was elected with the machinationsof one Reince Preibus (now RNC Chair), the entire state was gerrymandered so that while there are more Dem voters, thelegislature and courts are now firmly in GOP control. Consider as well, the fascist fear of higher education: after outlawing unions, they went after academia, were manyperished in concentrations camps. Why? Because they areintelligent people who stand in the way. Heck, they don't even believe FakeNews and can't be controlled by blatantpropaganda. The new GOP simply cannot put up with it.When the suckers that go along finally figure it out, whenthe 1% has 99.9% of all the wealth, when the entire worldhates us...we will finally understand that those smart enough to have forseen it are the real American patriots.Oh dear, I'm ranting again...."IMO, the GOP and their bizarre leader are taking their significant loss in total votes andpopularity as some sort of mandate to reshape the country from Fire District to the Presidency intheir own image. By actions which remind of pre-war Germany. Let me know when Krystallnacht starts.

I have wanted to take this weblog away from comment moderation for some time. So I thought I'd give it a try for a couple weeks and see what developed. It is looking like I'll have to return to moderation as TOM/Steve/Luke (the rancid trio of one in the same)has every intention of being the obnoxious lying butt head he's always been.

My bad for thinking the mangy leopard would ever change his vile spots.

Fact checking Trumps Tweets as they become public... what the WAPO is doing is a good idea. But I doubt it makes a difference. Right now, people either love Trump, or hate him. I doubt opinions are going to changed, just like opinions on Obama.

We are just going to have to wait and see what shakes out once he takes office.

Who knows... it is possible that even with the group of folks he has around him, he will govern as a pragmatist and that his Admin will be one of the best we've ever had. Just as it is possible that his Admin will be among the worst ever. But at this point, we just don't know.

But... his penchant for stretching the truth, lying or just plain making stuff up is legion...

This is all true Dave. We don't know at this point whether Trump's administration will be the worst or among the best. For me the indication and likelihood which it will be rests in your closing paragraph.

A very wise man whom I had a great deal of respect for once told me... a leopard can't change its spots. If he's right we likely already know what kind of leader and President Trump will be.

"...and that his Admin will be one of the best we've ever had. Just as it is possible that his Admin will be among the worst ever."

Just as possible?!? You've got to be kidding me. You are laying even odds between Trump's presidency being one of the best or one of the worst?!? Every indication I see indicates one of the worst, at least one of the worst for the majority of the American people.

Jerry, the truth is, Trump has not even taken office and many have already written him off. We've not seen him publicly since the election, save for a couple of brief snippets.

All I am saying is let's wait and see. If he is as bad as many suspect, there's gonna be ample time to criticize him then, when we have something concrete to berate. But all the "sky is falling" rhetoric we are hearing now will have the effect of making liberals look pretty stupid and myopic if he somehow manages even an average presidency.

I dare say we'd be pretty critical of conservatives had Hillary won and they were ragging on her even before she took office, wouldn't we?

Comment posted to once again highlight the vile nature of the EXTREME RIGHT WING IDIOTS that are bigly responsible for the majority of the issues facing our Already Great Nation, the nation Trump seems bent on destroying in his effoprts to attain KING like powers.

'It is possible to lead astray an entire generation, to strike it blind, to drive it insane, to direct it towards a false goal. Napoleon proved this.' -Alexander Herzen Perhaps the internet phenomenon has enabled the Dark Tetrad to rise out of the slime, considering some of thesemi-literate visitors and scatologists who show up an expose themselves here.

Othing like s DIRTY, LYING, FILTHY, STINKING PROGRESSIVE TO POST AND SPREAD THIS KIND OF FILTH TO THE PUBLIC, BECAUSE YOU ASSHOLES LOST THE ELECTION BY RUNNING A CROOKED, LYING, POS AS YOUR CANDIDATE.YOU DESERVED TO LOSE AND YOU DID !

Hope you're right Dave. Just because Trump is the most disgusting human to ever hold any office in the U.S.A., and he has surrounded himself with coal industry criminals and Nazis... What could possibly go wrong? The Exxon guy for SOS? Great. Let's hope it all works out.

Political Chick is an established Blogger and not a sockpuppet (IMO). BTW, I was looking over my old comments and found that FreeThinke, who I thought had never commented on my blog, did so on 8/10/2013 as "SufferDude" (that's not "Surfer Dude", btw). Also, the Fake RN ("parody" ID that has RN's sex as "Female") commented as "Thomas Jefferson" on 11/15/2015. RN, it appears, has a lot of enemies. Tyrone Slothrop writes on his Google+ page "I have a hatred in my heart for the Regerested Nurse﻿" (7/3/2015) and "I have the HOTS for the Regestered Nurse!﻿ I heard that he likes it Greek Style" (5/15/2015). Sounds like Slothrop may be a gay rapist. Another low information, poorly educated dupe, in any case (spells "registered" incorrectly).

It seems the sh*t on the extreme right has turned into an avalanche of diarrhea Dervish. In any case enemies have never bothered me. They just roll off my back as easily as sh*t flushes down the toilet.

Having a Bad Day are you RN!Why not go back to SHAW'S blog where she only posts the comments thatt she likes or changes the words to make them suit her agenda. Like all good Propaganda loving Progressives do.

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